The present invention relates, in general, to vacuum vessels, and, more particularly, to the coupling of a vacuum vessel head to the shell thereof.
The assignee of the present invention constructs vacuum vessels, and in one such vessel, the vessel head is removable. The joint between the vessel head and the shell includes two flanges and is fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,158,281.
While the joint disclosed in the just-referenced patent is quite effective, there is a complex connection of the flanges and the adjustment of the sealing flanges is not simple.
Furthermore, the sealing flanges in the patented structure function only as a portion of the sealing system.